Friday, December 16, 2011

Merry Christmas from my family to yours! I'm taking a brief winter vacation from the blog to relax and enjoy the holiday season with my family, but Two Tiny Birds will be back in 2012 with plenty of new recipes, quilts, and crafts. Happy Holidays!

Thursday, December 1, 2011

What better way to kick of the Christmas season than with a homemade Advent calendar? I finished this baby about 30 minutes ago, giving me an hour to spare before I need to leave to pick Bailey up from preschool. Yep, that's right. I'm proud to say that I have perfected the fine art of procrastination. I do some of my best work under pressure. :)

At first I had planned to only have the countdown cards as part of the calendar, but then I came across this foam countdown tree at Target for only $5. I attached the tree to a piece of foam board (also from Target - $3) with hot glue. Even though the foam ornaments were sticky-backed, they got a shot of hot glue too.

The tree has a cute little peg that you move along the string of lights as you count down the days until Christmas. Bailey will get a kick out of it.

Each colorful card is simply a piece of sturdy cardstock from my stash with scrapbook sticker numbers on the front and a cute sticker on the back. As we count down a day, we'll turn the card around to display the sticker. I hot glued four strands of Christmas ribbon from my hairbow-making supplies across the bottom of the board and used tiny binder clips to attach the cards.

Each card contains a slip of paper with a fun holiday activity written on it. I wanted the flexibility of being able to switch around the activities as needed and to use the calendar again in the future.

Our list of activities includes...
writing a letter to Santa
choosing a new ornament for the tree
going to a performance of the Nutcracker ballet
making a gingerbread house
buying gifts for the Angel Tree and DFW Pug Rescue
reading a Christmas book
drinking hot chocolate while watching a Christmas movie
learning a new Christmas song
baking a treat for your teacher
having a picnic in front of the Christmas tree
making reindeer food
baking cookies for Santa
making a snowman pizza
visiting Santa's Village

When Bailey gets home from school today, she'll open the first card and discover that tonight after dinner, we get to go shopping for new ornaments. I can't wait to see what she chooses for herself, and she'll most likely have a hand in choosing Jake's too!

Tuesday, November 22, 2011

It seems that I have lost my blogging mojo lately. My entire household has been sick since Halloween, so it's been difficult to find the time to do any sewing or crafting, let alone blog about it. But with Thanksgiving only two days away, I wanted to share a few recipes that would be perfect to add to your holiday table.

The Pioneer Woman's Dinner Rolls - I made these for Christmas Eve dinner with the in-laws last year and they received rave reviews! I'll be making a batch to take over to my sister's house for dinner on Saturday.

Melissa's Brussels Sprouts
- Having eaten these too many times to count while pregnant with Jake, I
can vouch for this amazing brussels sprouts recipe, also from The Picky
Apple. I may need to make a pan of these to bring along to our family
dinner too. They are delicious!

Flower Turkeys by Our Best Bites - These adorable little turkeys make from artificial flowers would be a great project to keep the kids busy while you're in the kitchen. I think these little guys are too cute and would make a great table decoration or napkin ring.

I hope you all have a wonderful Thanksgiving with your families and friends!

Friday, October 28, 2011

Just like the Spooky Spider Web, this idea is courtesy of Dana at MADE. And just like the Spooky Spider Web, this project is simple, inexpensive, and makes a big impression.

Last night, using black cardstock leftover from my days of stamping and card-making,
and the bat template (found here), I spent about 30 minutes cutting out the bats while watching Mad Men (a recent discovery via Netflix...love it!). This morning Bailey helped me hang them up in the living room. Our bats are flying in through the window above the front door.

Spooktacular! Bailey loves them because they are spooky, but not scary. After Halloween, it'll be a piece of cake to take them down and save them for next year. Only 3 days until Halloween...are you ready?

Thursday, October 27, 2011

Slime, goo, flubber...whatever you call it, this stuff is just plain fun! As soon as I saw this post over at The Picky Apple, I knew Bailey would love to make some slime. Boy did she ever! In the past month we've made three batches for her...yellow, pink, and green. She can't get enough of the stuff!

All you need to make your own slime is glue, Borax, water, and food coloring. Borax can be found in the laundry aisle of just about any grocery store. Dissolve a few tablespoons of Borax in a small cup of water. Pour the glue into a bowl and thin with a bit of water. Add your food coloring to the glue and mix well. Now it's time to make the slime! Add in a bit of the Borax mixture and stir with a spoon. The glue mixture will immediately turn into a gooey blob. I continue to add in the Borax mixture until all of my glue is "blobby." You can always pour off the excess water after you're finished mixing.

At this point I give the blob to Bailey and as she plays with it, it begins to dry out and gets oozy and stretchy. When she's finished playing with the slime, I put it in a Ziploc baggie and save it for another day. It seems to keep indefinitely.

When I asked Bailey what kind of treat she wanted to take to her
Halloween party at preschool, she immediately said "Slime!" So this
morning I mixed up a big batch of orange slime for her to share with her
friends at school. I packaged the slime in small 1/2 cup plastic containers and added some stick-on googly eyes. I hope her classmates enjoy the Silly Slime as much as she does!